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INTERVIEW: Feminade founder announces acquisition by AI health platform Superpower
Feminade, a digital startup helping women optimise their hormone health, has announced its acquisition by Superpower, the world’s first AI concierge health platform. Femtech World finds out what’s next for its female founder.
Since its launch in 2020, Feminade claims to have helped hundreds of women, whose needs were not being met by conventional medicine, to improve their health and wellbeing.
The company was among the first to offer advanced diagnostic testing, telehealth consultations, and holistic, personalised treatment plans for women struggling with a range of hormone-related issues— from irregular cycles, mood swings and weight gain to perimenopause and menopause.
After its initial success, it received backing from the likes of Magic Fund, 305 Ventures, and prominent angel investors, including tennis superstar-turned-women’s health investor, Serena Williams.
Now Feminade has been acquired by Superpower, the San Francisco-based company behind the world-first AI concierge health platform, in a part-cash part-equity deal, the figures of which have not been publicly disclosed.
Announcing the news on Wednesday 8 January, Feminade founder, Roya Pakzad, says she is supporting the company on a contract basis with what she described as a “beautiful transition in Feminade’s journey”, but won’t be joining the Superpower team long-term.
“I couldn’t have thought of a better company to take over Feminade and I’m very happy that our community is going to be in great hands,” she tells Femtech World.
“The Feminade mission is living on through Superpower, which is very important to me.”
The Feminade mission: a “pioneer” in the hormone testing space
Pakzad, who holds an Industrial Engineering degree from UC Berkeley and previously worked at Zendesk and Intuit, launched the company after experiencing her own frustrations with the healthcare system. For over a decade she was “constantly dismissed” or offered “band aid solutions” for her hormonal symptoms.
“I saw that I wasn’t alone,” she says.
“After doing some more research I found that there are millions of women, in the US and globally, suffering from this as well.”
Pakzad began by sharing educational content on her Instagram page, before her research led to the development of Feminade, bringing on board chief medical officer and naturopathic medical practitioner, Dr Erin Rhae Biller.
Feminade’s flagship product was offering accessible dried urine hormone tests that measure hormone levels and metabolites, which would then be used to help inform a personalised treatment plan.
Although dried urine hormone testing is not widely used in mainstream healthcare—and the peer-reviewed research remains limited— it is thought to potentially be able to detect issues such as liver dysfunction and gut health imbalances, Pakzad says, getting to the ‘root cause’ of hormone-related symptoms.
“We were a pioneer in the hormone testing space,” she continues.
“Within two to three months, we started getting emails from women saying it had changed their life—their cycles were more regular, they were finally able to lose weight, their mental health was better, their relationships improved. Feminade was offering science-backed root cause care that was actually helping women.”
Angel investors and personal setbacks
But Pakzad says she received pushback from investors initially and felt she had to “work harder to prove herself” as a female founder. She bootstrapped the company until she was able to secure venture capital in 2021, going onto pitch to Williams after being put in touch through a contact at the Launch House (an early-stage venture fund and social club in Silicon Valley).
Williams launched her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, and began investing heavily in the women’s health sector after a difficult experience during the birth of her first daughter.
“I pitched her personally— which doesn’t happen that often— and we connected,” says Pakzad.
“Serena believed in me and that really gave me the fuel to push forward.”
However, while Feminade went from strength to strength, Pakzad was facing setbacks in her personal life, losing both of her parents in the last four years. These personal tragedies have forced her to reconsider what’s best for her own future and that of the company, she says.
“The passing of my father [early last year] forced me to take a pause, to take care of my mental health and spend some time with the family,” she explains.
“I thought it best for the company, our customers and for myself, to sell… but whoever was going to take over Feminade had to have similar values, a great team and be on the same mission.”
Closing the healthcare gap
Pakzad is confident that she has found this is Superpower with synergies in their service offering, price point and mission more broadly.
Superpower offers customers comprehensive testing across all major organ systems and over 100 labs, with access to a private concierge clinical team. Like Pakzad, CEO Jacob Peters founded the company following his own health challenges with the aim of “revolutionising the healthcare system”.
It now has a waiting list of over 150,000 individuals and backing from investors including Scott and Cyan Bannister (PayPal Mafia), Arielle Zuckerberg, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Justin Mares (Kettle & Fire), and Jonathan Neman (Sweetgreen).
The Feminade acquisition is said to underscore Superpower’s commitment to closing the healthcare gap, with a shift to focus more on women’s health.
Commenting on the news, Peters said: “Healthcare today is fundamentally broken, especially for women. Feminade’s remarkable growth and deep expertise in women’s health make them the perfect partner to help us close this gap. With this acquisition, we are taking a significant step toward helping people—particularly women—achieve their peak potential through better, proactive healthcare.”
The next chapter
Pakzad isn’t making any decisions about her own next move just yet, instead she is taking some time out to focus on her own health.
“I’m excited for the next chapter for Feminade, but also for the next chapter of my life,” she says.
“I will continue to talk about women’s health, because it’s something that I’m so passionate about. I’m actually going to talk more about my own health and how it’s deteriorated in the past four years whilst building a women’s health company, which is so ironic.”
She adds: “I have to take care of myself.”
We are excited to reveal the winners of the third annual Femtech World Awards.
The winners were announced at a virtual event this afternoon attended by shortlisted companies, along with sponsors and judges.
The event welcomed guests from the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.
Thank you to all 174 entries, as well as the sponsors for making the event possible.
See you in 2027!
Femtech World Awards 2026 Winners
Winner:
Shortlisted:
IVI RMA x Juno Genetics
Natural Cycles
Winner:
Highly commended:
U-Ploid
Shortlisted:
Hello Inside
Winner:
WISE HF, led by Prof. Mary Ryder
Highly commended:
Cardiac College for Women
Shortlisted:
Hyvelle Ferguson-Davis
CognitiveCare
Winner:
Highly commended:
Youterus
Shortlisted:
ŌURA
Winner:
Shortlisted:
LeanShield by ParrotPal Group
Perigen
Winner:
Shortlisted:
Body Moody
Looop
Winner:
Shortlisted:
Owning Your Menopause
Womeno
Winner:
Shortlisted:
The Blue Box
Celbrea
Winner:
Shortlisted:
HealCycle
Mor
Winner:
Shortlisted:
HRC Fertility
Mira
Pregnant women’s expectations about postpartum sleep may predict sleep quality after birth, outweighing prior sleep and psychiatric history, a study suggests.
The findings suggest attitudes and beliefs about sleep during pregnancy could be a modifiable risk factor for postpartum sleep concerns.
They also indicate that, among women expecting the poorest sleep, higher postpartum anxiety may further worsen sleep quality.
Sammy Dhaliwal, lead author is clinical health psychologist and research fellow in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dhaliwal said: “Most pregnant women in our sample anticipated poor postpartum sleep before it occurred, and it was striking that those expectations predicted worse sleep outcomes even after accounting for factors such as prior sleep disorders, psychiatric history, and number of previous births.
“This suggests that attitudes and beliefs about sleep during pregnancy may represent a modifiable target for early intervention before postpartum sleep problems emerge.”
Sleep disturbance affects an estimated 60 to 80 per cent of postpartum women and is linked to a higher risk of depression and anxiety.
Researchers said it is often regarded as an expected part of life after childbirth rather than a health issue that may be addressed earlier.
The study enrolled 432 pregnant women at about 24 weeks of gestation, meaning around 24 weeks into pregnancy.
Participants completed measures of their expectations about postpartum sleep, current sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and mood using validated depression and anxiety scales.
Assessments were repeated at six, 12 and 24 weeks postpartum.
A subset of 49 women also wore wrist actigraphy devices at six to eight weeks postpartum.
Actigraphy uses a wearable device, similar to a watch, to estimate sleep and wake patterns based on movement.
The results showed that 70 per cent of pregnant women, or 301 of 432 participants, expected poor sleep in the postpartum period.
Researchers found that predicted sleep disruption during pregnancy was a significant predictor of postpartum sleep concerns.
Among first-time pregnant women without prior health concerns, those who expected greater sleep disturbance had significantly more disrupted sleep after birth, measured by both actigraphy and self-report.
Among women who expected the worst sleep quality, higher postpartum anxiety significantly worsened both measured sleep and self-reported sleep, independent of anxiety levels during pregnancy.
Dhaliwal said the findings point to two possible areas for intervention: addressing sleep-related beliefs during pregnancy and treating postpartum anxiety.
Dhaliwal said: “Postpartum sleep disruption is often treated only after problems develop, but our findings suggest there may be an opportunity to intervene earlier during pregnancy.
“Addressing sleep-related beliefs and postpartum anxiety during prenatal and postpartum care may help improve sleep and emotional well-being in new mothers.”
A weight loss jab may improve fertility outcomes in women with PMOS, early findings from an ongoing clinical trial suggest.
The proof-of-concept analysis found that injectable semaglutide may offer reproductive benefits while also addressing obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
It is the first report to examine how injectable semaglutide may improve reproductive outcomes in women with PMOS while also addressing obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
The work forms part of the ongoing RESTORE clinical trial.
Melanie Cree, professor at CU Anschutz and first author of the report, said: “Women with PMOS frequently face a frustrating choice between treatments that target reproductive symptoms and those that address metabolic health.
“Our early findings suggest injectable semaglutide may have the potential to improve both, offering a more comprehensive approach to care.
“This medication is incredibly promising when someone responds with 10 per cent weight loss.”
The trial is examining whether semaglutide can restore ovulation and improve reproductive health in adolescents and adults with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, known as PMOS.
PMOS, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS, is a hormone and metabolic condition linked to irregular periods, raised testosterone levels, infertility risk, obesity and increased cardiometabolic disease.
Cardiometabolic disease refers to conditions linked to the heart and metabolism, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Existing treatments, including metformin and hormonal contraceptives, often do not fully address reproductive and metabolic complications at the same time.
The analysis focused on participants aged 12 to 35 who lost at least 10 per cent of their body weight during treatment.
Researchers said reproductive improvements appeared earlier than expected, prompting them to report preliminary findings while the wider study continues.
Cree is also a paediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Endocrinologists are doctors who specialise in hormones and hormone-related conditions.
Cree said: “What makes this work particularly important is that it focuses specifically on women with PMOS receiving injectable semaglutide.
“Although GLP-1 medications have transformed obesity treatment, there remains a significant need for rigorous data examining how these therapies affect fertility and reproductive function in this population.”
The RESTORE study is evaluating semaglutide treatment in girls and women with PMOS and obesity.
Its broader aim is to determine whether weight loss and metabolic improvements can restore ovulation and improve reproductive outcomes.
Ovulation is the release of an egg from the ovary, a key part of the menstrual cycle and fertility.
The authors said the findings are from an early proof-of-concept analysis and that larger, longer-term studies will be needed to confirm whether the reproductive benefits last.
The findings suggest injectable semaglutide may become a treatment option for women with PMOS seeking improvements in both metabolic and reproductive health, if future studies confirm the results.
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